JPH03112481A - Apparatus for culturing algae - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To efficiently culture algae by arranging a rotating cage provided with many optical fibers capable of radiating sunlight in a culture capsule where a culture solution containing gaseous carbon dioxide is circulated and forcibly rotating the cage from the outside. CONSTITUTION:A culture solution is circulated through a culture capsule (D) with a culture solution circulating pump and gaseous carbon dioxide is blown from a blowing pipe 6 provided under the capsule body 1 and mixed in a culture solution in the interior of the culture capsule (D). Further, a rotating cage 10 having many optical fibers 15 capable of radiating introduced light introduced from one end thereof from the peripheral surface are arranged in the culture capsule (D). The rotating cage 10 is then forcibly rotated through a driven sprocket 19 from the outside of the culture capsule (D). Thereby sunlight and gaseous carbon dioxide introduced into the culture capsule (D) can be sufficiently homogenized to promote photo synthetic action and improve culture efficiency of algae.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a culturing device for efficiently cultivating algae such as chlorella.

1. Conventional technology - As is well known, when culturing algae such as chlorella, concentrated sunlight is introduced into a culture capsule using an optical fiber, etc. Conventional culture devices, which allow growth through photosynthesis in liquid, simply have a structure in which a large number of optical fibers capable of diffusing sunlight are stretched inside a culture capsule.

5 Issues to be Solved by the Invention - For this reason, in conventional algae culture devices, sunlight emitted inside the culture capsule and carbon dioxide gas, which is one of the factors in photosynthesis, are unevenly distributed, resulting in insufficient Photosynthesis does not take place, and the growth efficiency of the seed fungus has not improved as much as expected6.The purpose of the present invention is to solve the problems of conventional algae culturing devices as described above by introducing algae into culture capsules. An object of the present invention is to obtain a culturing device capable of sufficiently homogenizing sunlight and carbon dioxide gas.

Means for Solving a Problem - According to the invention, this object consists of a large number of cells capable of dissipating the introduced light from one end into a culture capsule in which a culture medium containing carbon dioxide gas is circulated. It is proposed that a rotating cage having optical fibers is arranged and the rotating cage is forcibly rotated from outside the culture capsule.

An example Embodiments of the invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 3 shows the overall system of the culture apparatus according to the present invention, in which the culture solution in the culture solution tank A is pressurized by a circulation pump B and passes through a culture solution supply pipe C into a large number of culture capsules D, which will be described in detail later. The recovered liquid containing the algae grown in these culture capsules D is collected into the culture liquid tank A through the recovery pipe E, but the proliferating algae and the algae are separated by the filter a of this culture liquid tank A. The culture solution will be separated. Then, pure carbon dioxide gas or air containing carbon dioxide gas is supplied to these culture capsules D by the force of a compressor Co to a carbon dioxide gas supply pipe F.
The sunlight that is supplied through the solar panel and collected by a sunlight concentrator (not shown) is incident on one end of an optical fiber, the details of which will be described later.

FIG. 1 shows a cross section of the culture capsule D, which is made of stainless steel and consists of a cylindrical capsule body 1 and a pair of capsule end plates 2A and 2B that cover both ends of the capsule body 1. These capsule end plates 2A, 2B are attached to the flange of the capsule body 1 using fastening bolts 3 while maintaining a liquid-tight state. That is, the capsule body 1 is equipped with a circulating fluid inlet 4 connected to the culture fluid supply pipe C and a circulating fluid outlet 5 connected to the recovery pipe. A fumarole vibro extending along the horizontal direction is housed, and micronized carbon dioxide gas is ejected from the numerous nozzle holes 6a of the fume vibro connected to the carbon dioxide gas supply pipe F described above, and the culture capsule D is Carbon dioxide gas is mixed into the culture solution inside.

Furthermore, a gas release lower is formed in the upper part of the capsule body 1 to release carbon dioxide accumulated inside the culture capsule D to the outside of the vine. Although not shown, this gas release lower is connected to a gas-liquid separator. The mixed culture solution and carbon dioxide gas are separated. The opening at the top of the capsule body 1, which is closed with the blind plug 8, is a seed bacteria inlet 9 for introducing seed bacteria such as chlorella into the culture capsule D.
It is.

A rotary cage 10 that is forcibly rotated from the outside is housed inside the capsule body 1. This rotating basket 10 is
A thrust bearing 11 is attached to the capsule end plates 2A and 2B.
A pair of end plates 13^, 13B- are rotatably supported using gland packings 12, and these end plates 13A, 13B are connected by a mesh 14 made of stainless steel.

Inside the rotating cage 10, a large number of optical fibers 15 are stretched in a substantially parallel state. That is, these optical fibers 15 can diffuse sunlight introduced into the interior to the outside by roughening the circumferential surface or giving a special shape to the circumferential surface, and the distance between a pair of opposing optical fibers is The plates 18A and 16B are adjusted to be parallel to each other. And these optical
One end of the fiber 15 is focused on the internal resin block 17A of the end plate 13A described above in order to introduce sunlight focused from the outside, and is exposed to sunlight guided from the concentrator. Further, the other end of the optical fiber 15 is fixed to a resin block 17B of the other end plate 13B, and the corresponding end surface of the optical fiber 15 is brought into contact with a reflecting mirror 18 that is in contact with this resin block 17B. Therefore, the sunlight guided into each optical fiber 15 is reflected inward by the reflection mirror 18, so that it becomes scattered light and is radiated to the outside.

A driven sprocket 19 is fixed to the outer ends of the aforementioned end plates 13A and 13B, and a chain 21 driven by a drive motor 20 is wrapped around this driven sprocket 19, and a rotary cage 10 of each culture capsule D is connected to the driven sprocket 19. is forcibly rotated from the outside via the same chain 21.

Since the culture apparatus according to the illustrated embodiment has the above-described structure, there is sufficient sunlight emitted from the optical fiber 15 and carbon dioxide gas ejected from the fumarole vibro inside the culture capsule D. A breeding environment for algae such as chlorella is formed. In this case, since the rotating cage 10 is rotationally driven via the driven sprocket 19, the bubbles of carbon dioxide ejected from the fume vibro are transferred to the rotating cage 10.
When passing through the mesh 14 and optical fiber 15, the microorganisms are finely divided and thoroughly mixed into the culture solution. Further, uniform sunlight energy is supplied to the inside of the culture capsule D by the rotational movement of the rotating cage 10, and photosynthesis is evenly promoted. Therefore, the growth environment inside the culture capsule D is prepared without deviation, and the effect of strengthening the growth power of algae as a whole is obtained. In addition,
It goes without saying that the algae such as chlorella grown in the culture capsule D are collected into the culture solution tank A together with the culture solution circulated by the circulation pump B.

Effects of the Invention - As is clear from the above explanation, according to the present invention, optical fibers are incorporated into the rotating cage and the rotating cage is forcibly driven from the outside, so that the growth can be carried out in every corner of the culture capsule. It is possible to provide a culture device that can achieve environmental equalization and has high growth efficiency.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of the culture device according to the present invention, and FIG.
A cross-sectional view taken along the line II-II in the figure, and FIG. 3 is an explanatory view of the entire system of the culture apparatus. D... Culture capsule, 6... Blower pipe, 10... Rotating cage, 15... Optical fiber, 19... Driven sprocket. Diagram

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1) A rotating cage with a large number of optical fibers that can diffuse introduced light introduced from one end from the surrounding surface is placed in a culture capsule in which a culture solution containing carbon dioxide gas is circulated, and this rotating cage is used as a culture capsule. An algae cultivation device that is forcibly rotated from the outside.